Just what is it about autism that produces the three hallmark behaviors of social impairment, language difficulties, and rigidity, or an "insistence on sameness'? Scientists at this year's Keystone meeting on the pathophysiology of autism in Santa Fe, NM, are looking for clues from a molecule we hear an awful lot about in discussions of non-autistic brain activity: Serotonin.

It turns out that a significant number of children with autism -- up to 30% -- have elevated levels of... Click to continue

This morning's session at the Keystone meeting on the pathophysiology of autism in Santa Fe, New Mexico, focused on the disorder's link to Fragile X syndrome. Like autism, Fragile X is associated with behaviors such as high social anxiety, gaze avoidance, and speech problems. A significant number of people with Fragile X - estimates range wildly from 5 to 60% - have autism, but a smaller number of ... Click to continue

It's a small Keystone meeting on the pathophysiology of autistic syndromes here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but you can feel the excitement among the 100 or so attendees, as they muddle their way through early data in this growing area of research. There are only nine posters being presented today -- but, according to co-host Pat Levitt from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, all are important. This is in contrast to the last Keystone I attended on stem cell biology in Whistler, British Columbia, in... Click to continue

NIH needs to make life easier for everyone involved in the peer review process - a not surprising conclusion of the agency's peer review working group, which it announced today (February 21) after reviewing thousands of suggestions from stakeholders.

Broadly, the recommendations include:

-Reduce the administrative burden of applicants, reviewers and NIH staff: Give applicants unambiguous feedback about whether to resubmit or develop a new idea (including the option "NRR'- not recommended for... Click to continue

Last night, I and other attendees of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships 25th Anniversary Symposium in Boston were introduced to an interesting idea, courtesy of Clive Thompson, science writer extraordinaire for Wired and other outlets: Write blogs to get ideas.

It's a basic concept. Thompson -- a surprisingly dapper (for a writer), well-coiffed, quick-talking presenter -- explained that he constantly feeds his blog,... Click to continue

The images you see in [Creature, a new book of photographs by Andrew Zuckerman] are the product of a journey of discovery and of learning how to connect with the soul and essence of all creatures. In animals, as in humans, the eye connects the creature to the outside world and centers our focus to see deeper into the heart and very nature of the creature. The goal of these images is to intensify the viewer's connection to the animals and inspire new perspectives on the familiar and... Click to continue

A company that aimed to reduce global warming by creating blooms of carbon dioxide-absorbing phytoplankton in the ocean has sunk, according to the New York Times.

The company, Planktos, posted a statement on its Web site yesterday (February 13) saying that it had decided to "indefinitely postpone its ocean fertilization efforts" as a result of a "highly... Click to continue

A geneticist was sentenced to one year of unsupervised release (no jail time) and a $500 fine for supplying bacteria to an artist, according to the Buffalo News, bringing to an end a well-publicized case that began more than three years ago.

Robert Ferrell, based at the University of Pittsburgh, pled guilty in October to a misdemeanor, after he supplied Steven Kurtz with... Click to continue

Frank Dixon, a Lasker winner and founder of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., died on Friday (February 8) of heart failure. He was 87 years old.

Dixon was best known for his work showing that immunologic responses can cause harm, including kidney and cardiovascular diseases, among others. That research earned him the 1975 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.

Dixon's colleagues remembered him as a "no-nonsense," focused scientist. Dixon was a "very severe, very... Click to continue

It was the days before the two competing groups of researchers published the first draft of the human genome (released in February, 2001), and Don Kennedy was stressed out. As editor of Science, he was trying to get both groups to publish simultaneously, and in his journal. In the end, he got his first wish, but not his second.

"I told somebody that if we had succeeded in that venture it would have made an issue of Science bigger than the Christmas issue of Vogue,"... Click to continue

Still undecided about who to vote for in today's Super Tuesday election? Here's another source from Research!America and its partners called "Your Candidates-Your Health."

The site, which has already polled the public and elected representatives about their attitudes towards research and healthcare, has now invited every presidential candidate to weigh in on key... Click to continue

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, so who are you going to vote for?

Yesterday, Harold Varmus, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, told Wired that he plans to cast his ballot for Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday, February 5. Obama represents "a new kind of leader, one without ties to a divisive past and one who portrays through his personal history a global perspective that is both crucial... Click to continue